Asylum seekers who have barricaded themselves inside a compound at the Manus Island detention centre say police and guards are preparing to enter the compound by force, a claim the PNG government denies.

The asylum seekers are protesting about the prospect of refugees being resettled in PNG, with some asking for the United Nations to take custody of them instead.

An asylum seeker who said he was inside the compound sent this message this morning: "This is my last message to you. There are a lot of police and guards around the Delta and they want to attack to us."

However, a PNG spokesman told the ABC there had been no move to enter Delta compound by force.

He said other compounds remained open, with staff providing medical assistance.

Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Peter Dutton has denied food and water was being withheld from the asylum seekers.

PNG MP fears the situation could turn deadly

Papua New Guinea's MP for Manus Island, Ronnie Knight, said that he feared the situation could turn deadly, and urged the Government to consider other options.

"I'm quite disappointed actually after the incident in February last year where this sort of thing happened and the contractor was removed and the new contractor put in ... nothing's been learnt from last year," Mr Knight told ABC's The World Today program.

"The situation at the moment is very tense, you have 300 to 400 young males, who are really, really aggressive and they are blocking off areas.

"And now that they've blocked it off, they're saying that they are not getting food but they started the hunger strike in the first place so it's a bit confusing.

"The food's available, they don't want to eat it," he said.

Authorities need to find somewhere more appropriate: Knight

Mr Knight said there was no basis to the claims by asylum seekers that their lives would be in danger if they were resettled in the PNG community.

"You hear a lot of hype about Papua New Guinea, but Papua New Guinea is one of the most peaceful places in the world. It's more democratic in some ways than Australia."

If the government had something set up for them in another province, or on government land somewhere ... maybe that would be some way to sort it out.

Ronnie Knight, Papua New Guinea's MP for Manus Island

Although, while he says his country is safe, Mr Knight says he is not convinced that refugees could ever be harmoniously settled in PNG.

"For a small island like Manus for instance it wouldn't work ... they'd have to go to a type of subsistence farming," he said.

Mr Knight said if the national government did want to resettle asylum seekers within the country, it would need to find somewhere else more appropriate.

"If the government had something set up for them in another province, or on government land somewhere, there's a lot of plantations around that are disused, maybe that would be some way to sort it out," he said.

"But that's for the government to sort out and we are still waiting on them to tell us what's happening."

Mr Knight said he had concerns that the cultural differences between the asylum seekers and PNG locals may not be able to be overcome.

"I've actually seen the attitude of some of these people after the last riots happened and the racism that they have, the way they talk to people and they way the call people black monkeys and talk about their mothers and that," he said.

"It's not really going to be a one-way thing. You'd have to come at it half way. You'd have to change your attitude as well."

If they can't handle them, send them back: Knight

Mr Knight said he warned the detention centre managers in February last year and felt tensions were building in same way once again.

"I saw it happening from day one and nobody would listen to me," he said.

"They turned back my officer at the gate just before the riots happened and it could have been stopped. And now it is pretty much the same thing happening all over again.

"I know there is a lot of people that are violent people, that has been proved, they are young males, and they decide they want to do things, they will do things.

"But if they can't handle them, send them back to where they've come from, or send them back to UNHCR and put them into refugee camps somewhere.

"That would probably be much better than leaving them there and letting them get more and more aggressive.

"The feeling now is that I've got nephews and I've got family members who are actually working in the camp as bus drivers, security guards, and I have advised them when these thing happen, to stand back and let the people who get paid for it handle it.

"Don't get involved again and get into trouble again.

"At the end of the day I think it's up to those people who are getting millions of kina a day to look after those people to actually step in and bloody look after those people."

Dutton urges transferees to 'cease aggressive actions'

Mr Dutton described the behaviour of the protesters as "irresponsible".

"The actions of some transferees are actively preventing the delivery of food, water and medical services to others who are not participating in the protest," he said in a statement.

"Water has not been cut off - water supply continues to meet the needs of the centre.

"I urge transferees – and anyone advocating this behaviour – to cease their aggressive actions and allow service providers to enter compounds and provide services especially to those not participating in protest activity."

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the Government was not being transparent enough about the situation on Manus Island.

"Whatever one's perspective, I think all Australians are unhappy about a culture of secrecy," he said.

"These people are directly or indirectly in the care of Australia, and the Government just needs to come clean about what is happening."

The ABC received several reports PNG police mobile squad units would be deployed today to break up the protests.